The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 398: Death

Victor sighed, looking at the setting sun and the expansive desert.

Was this a desert world or was it just this region?

Totally unimportant, as long as there were enough girls, everything would be fine.

The first thing Victor did after dismissing his stupid thoughts was to try to communicate with his wives again, just in case. Sadly, the results were the same as in the void.

Checking the cauldron in his storage space, he found that it was working, Rita managed to retrieve it in time. Maybe he should get the girls inside out for an adventure… Especially that Dark Scion Mavis. Would she be a dark scion here too? Unknown.

He decided to consider this later, he had more important things to do acting alone.

It was a chance to build the last affiliated faction he had for his grand plan.

At first, he wanted to delay forming it until after the reckoning, as it was meant to hunt demons.

But here was a good place to plant that seed, with the power of portal creation, he could always retrieve them if needed!

Taking a black cloak made of dragon skin that he got from Von Zwei’s vault and a bone dragon mask that he got from his ancestor’s loot, he put them on, then activating his disguise he began to think where to go.

He was in the middle of nowhere.

Looking at all his status that didn’t seem affected, he quickly activated his Fate eyes, pointing them at himself.

Paying one order point a few fate threads immediately appeared in different directions.

He was right, his great aunt and mother-in-law who were sucked here before were alive here. They were in a certain direction along with a few other threads that belonged to family members.

In the other direction, there was another lone thread. The one he attached to Bruno before throwing him here.

After thinking for a moment, he decided to track Bruno, he needed to know all the info he had before some pretty female elf decided to kill him.

…

...

“Do you think that father would really give a bastard like you a chance to join the family?” one young man dressed in a black brand suit said, as he shoved another who was dressed like a beggar. “The moment he looks at your potential he would definitely kick you out to some garbage dumb!” he added as two guys, who stood by him snickered. From the way they acted, no one would believe that the one they were bullying was their half-brother.

“Pan, this is not your mother’s school, you can’t bully me here!” the young man replied angrily, grabbing Pan’s hand that was holding to his shirt. Ever since they were in school, his half-brother made sure to let him know the difference in their status. Back then, he endured all of the humiliation, including that of his girlfriend jumping ship. All just to graduate peacefully and be able to help support his mother and sisters. Not anymore!

Yesterday, his father sent a message through the local lawyer who usually handles his monthly allowance, it stated that if he wanted a chance to get promoted into the family, he should come to Vein City where he would be tested.

It was just that short, with no further explanations, just his father’s clearly photocopied signature.

Although he was reluctant, he knew this was a rare chance given by his super-rich father whom he only met once. So he hurried here, borrowing some money for the train. His allowance for the month had already been used to pay his stepsister’s hospitalization fee.

After reaching Vein city, he was quickly driven from the train station to this grand mansion by a butler who was waiting at the station cursing... Apparently, they had already arranged for his transportation, but he was in so much of a hurry that he forgot to look inside the letter envelope where they deposited a plane ticket.

His fault…

To his surprise, he was not the only one invited! The bastard Pan was also here among a lot of young people who seemed to be his half-brothers and sisters. All of them were going to be tested.

This was bigger than he expected, but how much of a douchebag was his cheap father exactly, remained to be seen.

“Oh… Our little piggy Roy has grown some balls…” Pan said intending to make trouble as he balled his other hand into a fist.

“Enough you two, we are not here for a fight!” One bossy girl said as she spotted the trouble here and came running, it was as if she had a nose for it.

Pan frowned and looked at her. Pretty and headstrong… Wait, she seemed familiar.

“YOU ARE ROXY!” one guy said, Roxy was a very famous new rising journalist who won more than 3 awards since her debut 3 years ago. Unlike the infamous Gloria, Roxy had a reputation for being very clean, professional, and just! “You are also our sister?” he gasped. He had a crush on her.

“Yes,” she replied, "you are Wain, Right?” She had learned all those guy’s names the day before as she was the first to arrive and volunteer to help the butler George to arrange their transportation. He didn’t seem to mind the assistance as he seemed a little flustered by his master’s sudden order.

“Yes!” he said with a smile. Roxy knew his name!

“Nice to meet you… The two of you should be Ray and Pan…” she added looking at the two hostile half-brothers. “You shouldn’t be fighting here…” she repeated.

“Stay out of this!” Pan said, being raised as a lonely rich, and spoiled child, he didn’t like to be commanded.

“Let me warn you, this is Esteemed Father's mansion… Do you guys really want to waste this chance the family gave us over some stupid bullying!” she said in a low voice.

Troubles like this were the fault of her stupid father who had the tendency to totally disregard the wellbeing of his bastard sons who failed to meet the family’s expectations.

Other than paying for their education or training, he usually allocated some allowance to them every month, which would usually be barely enough for them to live.

The idea is that once they became adults they would have to take care of themselves!

The problem with this mentality was that many of these guys had other family members to take care of, like Roy who had 5 younger sisters from his prostitute sickly mother. He was their only provider. She read his file yesterday and it made her really appreciate this guy. Too bad he was not gifted in anything, and her father would never help useless guys.

Pan, on the other hand, was the only son of a successful businesswoman who managed to seduce Theodore to benefit her company.

Pan, who failed as a baby to be a legitimate heir, was raised as a rich young master by his successful mother, who considered him her connection to Theodore and pampered the shit out of him!

Heaven had it that both Pan and Roy happened to attend the same school, the one Pan’s mother owned and the best in town. Theodore made sure that all his offspring attended the best schools in their area of residence.

This apparently didn’t sit well with Pan who made it his purpose in life to bully Roy whom he didn’t want to accept as a brother. The reason seemed to include some stupid name-calling and a pretty class rep, but the report Roxy read didn’t go into any specifics.

Still, both of those guys had no real idea how scary their father was, many of the people here were the same. For many of them, coming here and witnessing their father’s immense wealth for the first time was a shock.

Two years ago Roxy was the same in a way, yet different, as she was gifted from a young age.

After graduating from university with a double masters degree in journalism and politics, she worked as a young journalist in a humble media outlet, and in just a few months, all by herself, she managed to score one of the most successful investigations of that year, exposing a human trafficking and prostitute criminal network that spanned many countries.

She was celebrating with her colleagues winning a Totomo award when she got a phone call from her cheap father whom she had only met once before.

He wanted to meet her.

She didn’t agree. Why now after all? She was not interested.

The next day, he simply bought the network she worked in and dragged her into the chief editor’s room.

At first, she thought he wanted to use her success for his business or to blame her for exposing the truth as one of his partners might be a part of that network, but what happened was beyond her dreams as after some casual chat in which she was not very cooperative, he drugged her and then flew her into a private island that he owned, before throwing her into a grand archive, telling her to read to her heart's content, before he left.

She frowned but quickly found out that this Archive belonged to her father’s own intelligence agency. It was full of reports and backlogs about many shady transactions that were happening around the world.

Seven days later, she walked out of the archive’s steel-reinforced doors with an ashen face and a shaken heart. She had just learned that her article would have got her killed if her father didn’t intervene.

There was a $10,000,000 bounty on her head to first discredit her, ruin her reputation, and then kill her in the most disgusting way possible.

She realized many things… The ones behind that criminal organization she was investigating was a grand connection of interests. All were ruled by a few families that the reports called, THE OLIGARCHS.

She was messing with something easy beyond her. Reading the reports she realized how naive she was. If Theodore was not her father, she would have died like many snoopy journalists before her.

She also learned that her father was filthy rich… No, filthy didn’t do him justice… She had no words to describe his wealth.

She was also able to piece out something that was not mentioned anywhere. Theodore was definitely a part of something bigger that seemed to control the world, but she couldn’t find out what it was.

Requesting a meeting with her father, she told him what she found directly, and Theodore to her surprise didn’t scold her, but on the contrary, he seemed sad that she was not a legitimate heir, deciding to offer her a chance to work for him.

At first, she was reluctant, but her father promised her not to intervene in her investigation, and that he would only stop those that were troublesome.

According to him, those criminals connected to the oligarchs had a very strict code of conduct to keep the world peace.

Unfortunately, not everyone was a good player, every once in a while someone broke the rules and created a disaster.

That’s why her work, as long as kept within certain boundaries, would be permissible, and would be considered a part of the cleaning crew that he was seemingly a part of.

Reluctantly, knowing she had no other choice if she wanted to continue her career, she agreed.

That’s why she had been working for him as a chief editor and famous anchor for one of the biggest news agencies in the world for the last two years.

Lately though, as she began, realizing more and more that there seemed to be a big secret that those hidden powers were keeping…

It was not until the Mantis incident a few months back and the reports by Jane Armstrong that she realized what they were.

So last week she requested to meet her father, deciding to confront him once and for all.

The response came two days ago for her to come to Vein City immediately. And now she was here.

“Let go!” she told Pan. who didn't take her seriously.

Hearing what Roxy said, Pan frowned, slowly letting go of Roy’s shirt who in turn let go of his hand.

“I am sure father would kick you out sooner or later…” Pan said with disgust as he turned to leave with his two half-brothers/lackeys.

That’s when they spotted a group of little girls standing and watching their convention with interest. When did girls appear? Were they their sisters? No, three of them were in magical girl/ maid costumes. And one of them had purple hair, the sign of a legitimate heir!

“Hello, respected brothers and dear sister… I am Lara…” One little girl with purple hair who was in the front bowed politely as she introduced herself.

“Ah… Are you perhaps Mistress Elina’s youngest daughter?” Roxy said. She knew more about the legitimate sons than others, as she made sure to ask that butler George, and he didn’t hide a thing.

She also met Mistress Elina and Mistress Luna when she came in yesterday and visited the main building, too bad Lara was at school back then.

“YES!” Lara smiled and nodded. Pleased that this older sister knew her name.

“And those are?” Pan rudely asked, pointing to the three little girls following Lara.

“We are her servants…” El replied directly. “How much more do you want us to dress for you to realize that?” she added rudely. She was dressed as a maid, technically. A Magical Maid.

“...” Pan decided not to argue with the little girl. The way she was glaring at him like he was some insect reminded him of the look of the boss of a gambling club he entered once and then left in his underwear.

“I am, Roxy, those are Pan, Roy, Ray, Wain, and Christopher…” Roxy quickly introduced everyone. She was really gifted in remembering people.

“Nice to meet you!” Lara bowed.

“Nice to meet you too…” Roxy bowed back awkwardly, the rest didn’t. They were not raised in the family and felt strange following such stupid protocols.

“Why were you fighting earlier?” Lara asked, seemingly a little annoyed that they didn’t bow to her. Are they angry with her perhaps? That was the only reason she could think of.

“Ahh… Just a misunderstanding!” Roxy said kindly. “They were just testing their strength! Pan here has a black belt in Orkinko!” she added, not wanting to get her half-brothers in trouble. Those idiots had no idea how much power a legitimate heir held, let alone Lara who had three of her direct siblings having an Elite status.

“Really?” Lara’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Pan.

“Yes!” he nodded, frowning and wondering why Roxy knew that. In fact, the only reason why he learned this martial art was because of his mother who told him that his father liked martial arts and forced him to learn it. At first, he hated it, but later when he discovered how useful it was for bullying others, it became his favorite hobby.

“AH! Can we have a friendly match then?” Lara asked in an excited voice.

Lately, she had been learning many martial arts under her father’s instruction, and she had just learned Orkinko last week. Too bad her teacher quit yesterday, stating he lost his will to practice in martial arts as a reason…

She felt bad, as she was beginning to get the hang of it.

Still, she couldn’t wait to show her new brother her skills! Maybe this would help them become friends after that! Martial arts were the best way to foster relationships! That’s what one of her masters said before he quit too.

According to Uncle George, their martial hearts were not strong enough to fight a little girl. What a group of nice people...

“Ahh…” Pan frowned. Where did bitch little girl appear from now?

“Why don’t you do that?” someone suddenly said, making everyone look back. It was the head butler George. “Miss Lara is better than she looks, and I heard young master Pan had just won the local tournament last month… I think you wouldn’t mind humoring a little girl?” George said with a smile that Roxy didn’t like.

“.. Fine…” Pan said, cruising inwardly. He didn’t want to be her, but his stupid mother ordered him to get along with his brother and promised that if he did good, she would buy him that supercar he wanted. “But this place is not suitable…”

“Follow me…” George said then turned and walked without waiting for them.

Lara was the first to follow with her cute entourage, then Roxy who ran to them and began acting friendly asking about school.

Pan looked at Roy then followed too with his lackeys.

Roy, who was left alone, frowned. Damn it… He didn’t expect to ever meet Pan again after graduating last summer. What sh*t luck…

“You should follow them too…” someone told him, making him look back. It was a very pretty young lady with purple hair who appeared out of nowhere like a thief.

“Ah. You are…” Roy asked, noticing the girl's hair color. A legitimate hair!

“I am your big sister… Call me Iris,” she said. “Let me give you one piece of advice that your dear half-brother Pan will learn pretty fast… Never refuse the request of a legitimate heir. Family rule 7724,” she said.

“I am not a part of this family… “ he spat. He refused to play their aristocratic games.

“That’s why George didn’t break your legs earlier… Both of you and Pan’s for not bowing back to Lara…” she sighed. “Come on, father, have big hopes for you…” she said as she walked toward the Gym.

In fact, the test here had already begun, and everything that would happen in the mansion for the next week was a part of it.

Her mission today was to grade her half-brothers and search for good ones.

Roy here was not bad. Although he didn’t fare well at school, he had a good martial arts foundation and a passable personality. He was one of her candidates.

According to her father, he planned to make each group of illegitimate sons work under the leadership of one legitimate heir. The idea was that they had to keep the family's hierarchy even after the awakening ceremony to avoid chaos.

“...” Roy frowned then followed. “When will we meet Father?” he asked as he looked around, this mansion was huge.

Besides the main building that was a complex on its own, not only did the grounds have 7 side newly constructed buildings where he and his brothers were housed, but it also had a theater and an entire stadium to act as a GYM. It was as if his cheap father was competing with someone.

“Soon, something went wrong in the family's base, and he went there in a hurry… He should be back by evening…” she said. The way her father left without saying anything felt strange. Something big must have happened. Hopefully, Victor and Zoe were okay.

“The family base?” Roy frowned. He only knew the family was super rich and mean at the same time.

“It is an entire Archipelago in the middle of the ocean… You will go there if you fare well in the coming test…” she said. “The family’s riches are way beyond anything you could imagine!” she said.

“What is the test about?” he asked.

“I can’t tell you that yet, but what you should keep in mind is that once you pass, you will get the full support of the family,” she said. “You will also be able to afford an operation for your hospitalized sister…” she added dismissively.

Roy nodded as he squeezed his fist.

…

...

The large luxury ship shook between the raging waves.

All around, the screams of fighting and people asking for help would be heard.

As a two-week cruise organized by a famous band, it had many rich and important young men and women attending as guests to socialize and lay back in a place far away from their top-shot parents.

But those guys who were enjoying the party moments ago suddenly found themselves in a scene from a horror movie from the sea all of a sudden, an army of men dressed in scales appeared, then began ordering everyone to the ground. Calling them demons.

Were they pirates or some cult? The guests didn’t know.

Before they could comprehend what happened, the organizers began attacking those men using swords and spears, and one band member started throwing fire from his hands.

“All to the ground! Those who fight will die!” Rain yelled then turned backward and slashed with his sword, cutting a bald sailor in half.

“Can’t you cut more elegantly! You almost caused that man’s lowly blood to spoil my new dress!” Tulip scolded as she used her umbrella to hit a woman who attacked her from the back. Killing her instantly.

“...” Rain didn’t respond, he had long learned how to deal with this spoiled and arrogant brat.

“HUMANS! HOW DID YOU KNOW ABOUT US?” someone suddenly said as a group of soldiers got blasted into the air and a young man flew from the midst of the ship. His eyes were bright blue as sparks of electricity swizzled around him.

“Not your business… Just die!” Rain screamed attacking the demon who dodged to the side looking at Rain with a frown that turned into a crazy smile.

“YOU ARE AN OFFERING!” the young man said as if he had found a treasure. Forgetting the attacks around him as he began to salivate. “I JUST NEED TO EAT YOU TO EVOLVE!” he said, spraying his saliva everywhere as he began to attack Rain frantically.

Too bad that despite his high rank as a demon, his level was not that high in this body, so the battle ended before he could realize it by Yulip hitting him from the back.

“Is it over?” Rea, who was cutely dressed in a suit of armor, asked as she watched the battle slowly end as the demons either died or threw themselves into the sea, where another team was waiting for them.

“Don’t relax too soon, we don’t know who among those mortals carries a demon soul, we need to check them with the Purity Pearl in the central temple to make sure!” Tulip said. Thankfully, after she was able to cure her mother, the latter allowed her to use the soldiers and raid this cruise under the presumption that it was a demon’s trap.

It seemed like Vic didn’t lie about this thing… THAT BASTARD! every time she remembered that he had secretly placed a slave seal on her, she would start cursing.

“Can’t we just kill everyone?” Rain complained, making Rea glare at him. “I am joking!” he quickly said. He wasn’t.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH………..” one soldier suddenly wailed from the back, causing both Tulip and Rain to grab their weapons and run to the back of the ship. When they reached it, they saw a group of soldiers slowly melting into a puddle.

From in between their melting corpses, a little girl who had gothic makeup and wore a simple black dress. walked barefooted slowly toward Rain.

Her looks were screaming. DEMONESS!

“Prepare…” Before Tulip could command the rest of the soldiers, Rain stopped her with his hand. She frowned and then looked at the girl who slowly reached their position.

“WE MEET AGAIN, OFFERING…” she said in a sound that didn’t resemble that of a girl, but an old woman.

“Don’t call me that…” Rain said, clenching his fist.

“IS THAT HOW YOU TREAT YOUR SAVIOR?” the little girl asked.

“It still remains to be seen who saved who…” Rain answered.

“HE HE… AS THICK AS EVER…” the little girl chuckled, frowning then looking at Tulip. “OH… A CHILD OF THE VOID! IS THAT DEAD FISH HUA HUA STILL DOING WELL IN HER CELL?”

“Ah… You know my master?” Tulip asked nervously.

“KNOW…” the little girl didn’t elaborate.

“You are?” Tulip asked.

“CALL ME DEATH LORD… I AM RAIN’S MASTER!” she said, making Tulip gasp.

“Again, that remains to be seen!” Rin interrupted.

“Can you help my master?” Tulip asked quickly, totally ignoring Rain.

“ONLY SHE CAN HELP HERSELF… ONLY VOID SPARKS CAN HELP HER…” the death lord said. “SHE SHOULD HAVE ALREADY TOLD YOU…” her voice trailed off.

Tulip nodded, clenching her fist.

“YOU WILL BE ABLE TO DO IT… JUST FOCUS ON IT!” the little girl finally said.” RAIN DID IT FOR ME AFTER ALL!” she added making Tulip look at Rain with surprise. This guy had many secrets.

“What are you doing here anyway?” Rain suddenly asked, not wanting to talk about his past. “I thought you said you would be leaving this world back then?”

“I LEFT… I RETURNED… “ the little girl said, not explaining.

“Revenge?” he asked.

“NOT YET…” she shook her head, not explaining further. “YOU HAVE GROWN UP SINCE THE LAST TIME I SAW YOU… PICKING ON GIRLS NOW?” she asked, changing the subject with a smirk that didn’t suit a little girl.

“They are just friends…” he said. “Dear friends…” he added.

“OH… BUT I HAVE TO WARN YOU... THAT GIRL CAN'T BELONG TO YOU!” she said, pointing to Rea.

“Why… You know something?” he asked, remembering that demon back then when he first met Rea.

“SHE IS A SHARD SLAVE… WHEN THE SHARD MASTER CALLS, SHE WILL HAVE TO OBEY…” the death lord explained.

“Can you help her?” Rian asked, making the little girl smirk. She wanted him to ask.

“CAN… COME HERE CHILD!” she said.

Rea looked at Rain, watching him nod, she slowly walked toward the little girl who had to step on her toes and raise her little hand to touch Rea’s forehead.

Then, she was thrown back as a black trail of blood fell from her mouth, digging holes in the ship like some kind of acid.

“Emira!” Rain quickly ran to her side as she fell into the side of the ship then stood up quickly and used her fist to slap Rain on the face, causing him to be flung 10 feet away, almost falling into the ocean.

“What idi I do now?” he asked as he grabbed the ship's railing and stabilized himself. It seemed like he was used to getting hit by this girl.

“BASTARD! Who the hell did you steal this girl from?” she asked with fear in her eyes. Her sound was that of a little girl as she lost her cool.

“Ah… A guy who called himself the Nutcracker… A Demon…”

“NO!” she interrupted. “That guy is no demon! Demons can't have Authority! Let Alone more than me!” she said. "He might be a lord... Or worse... An Emperor..."

“Ahh… What can you tell us about him?” Rain asked in surprise. When he fought that guy, he didn’t seem that strong, just very tricky to fight.

“TWO THINGS… FIRSTLY, HE IS NOT IN THIS WORLD RIGHT NOW…. AND SECONDLY, DON’T FUCKING MESS WITH HIM EVER AGAIN!”

“What about Rea?” Rain asked.

“FUCK YOU AND HER!” the little girl cursed then turned into a shadow and launched into the sky disappearing in seconds.

She had just tried to break the shard’s connection for Rea but ended up suffering a backlash instead as her skill failed, and this hurt her badly. She was not going to tell that to Rain though…

…

...

It was right after sunrise when Victor stood in place beside a dismantled night camp.

9 mercenaries surrounded him pointing their weapons in his direction after appearing out of nowhere.

He could tell that those guys were slavers by the horse-drawn carriage that they parked to the side with a horse-like creature that had very long ears... Wait, that was just a donkey.

anyway, it had a large cage where two scantily dressed girls were locked. Sitting with them tied to the side of the cage, there was a chained naked burly young man who had his arms severed. Bruno.

The fate thread guided him directly to him!

“Look what we found… Just when I was thinking that we didn’t have enough merchandise for the market tomorrow! ” one of them said in a low elvish language that Victor had to think a while before remembering. Thankfully he could speak this one.

The middle-aged man who spoke was a half-elf, as indicated by his slightly pointy ear and red flaming hair.

“Our luck is good!” the only woman in the group said. She seemed to be a Sun Elf in her teens, but you could never tell an elf’s age. She was dressed in some very revealing adventurer clothing and had a nasty knife cut across her face and one of her ears was cut, a sign of being an outcast who committed a great sin. She was also clearly the hidden boss of this group.

“Remove your mask and introduce yourself…” an ugly man who was probably a half-ogre said to Victor finally as the others looked at him, preparing to chain him if he didn’t have a good background.

Victor, who didn’t care about the others who had levels less than 20, kept his eyes on the elf lady.

“I am your father…” he replied in a low confident old voice, removing his mask to reveal a handsome old man.

“What?” It took the slavers a moment to understand what he said, then they looked at each other. Was he perhaps the father of one of them?

One by one they shook their heads. He was not their father.

“Bastard, you dare mess with us!” the half-elf guy flared angrily, throwing his spear at Victor as he deemed him unsellable.

The spear only hit empty air. So did the whip and the arrow that followed.

Then the world turned black and they felt their bodies hit the ground as they fell one by one. They could not move nor speak…

Victor sneered, cleaning his poisoned dagger with his cloak as he looked at the collapsed slavers. Putting back his mask, he took the chains from them and then quickly tied them all after a quick search.

One of them had a storage bag tied to his horse which contained some money, chains, ropes, torture equipment, and daily necessities, that’s all.

He sighed, turning to the carriage and then walking in its direction. Appraising the two girls inside

-

Reading their status Victor sighed. Even in this world, Authority seemed to define everything, though he was not sure how it worked yet.

Different worlds had different rules.

“Are you here to save us?” one girl asked.

“No… I am here for this son of a b*tch… I will return later to get you, just keep a look on the collapsed guys for me…” Victor said, grabbing Bruno from the cage. The latter, who could not understand the language, tried to resist, but Victor easily overpowered him, taking a flask of wine and pouring it in the poor young man’s mouth under the shocked look of the two girls.

Then he dragged him away behind a nearby rock, leaving the girls in the cage to wonder what was he going to do with him.